Metier has big plans with Healdsburg move

June 4, 2012, 7:00AM

06/04/2012

[caption id="attachment_55343" align="alignright" width="318" caption="Metier software helps large and small organizations manage timelines and resource allocation for various types of projects."][/caption]

HEALDSBURG -- Project portfolio management software developer Metier Ltd. has moved its West Coast office to Healdsburg from downtown Santa Rosa as the company prepares to rapidly increase its local workforce to accommodate a recent surge in sales.

Thanks to "fantastic growth" so far this year -- double-digit top-line growth in the first five months of this year over that pace a year ago -- Metier (707-546-9300, www.metier.com) has about a dozen positions available each in its Sonoma County and Washington, D.C.-area offices, according to Sandra Richardson, co-founder and chief marketing officer.

"We want to be able to accommodate in the hundreds of employees in Sonoma County," she said. "We're looking for a substantial amount of space in the next two to three years."

Growing local operations to 125 employees has been the goal since Metier arrived in Sonoma County nearly three years ago. The plan a year from now is to have 100 employees locally. The company currently is looking for one or more buildings to renovate or build to create an open floor plan that blends the work interaction of a creative-services company with the fast-pace work environment of a securities trading firm, according to Ms. Richardson.

After scouting the county from Healdsburg to Petaluma to Sebastopol, Metier signed a three-year lease for the 10,000-square-foot top floor of 405 Healdsburg Ave., located a block north of the city's central plaza. The company last week relocated from about 7,000 square feet of subleased law offices in the 50 Santa Rosa Ave. mid-rise office building to Healdsburg, a gateway city to wine regions of Dry Creek and Alexander valleys.

Healdsburg has "rich cultural offerings" that can help a fast-growing software company attract top talent, according to Chief Executive Officer Douglas Clark.

"Since our expansion in 2009, we've always been committed to inshoring and locating within the U.S.," he said.

Metier started in 1998 and expanded from Arlington, Va., to a small office in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square district in mid-2009. Today, the company has weathered the challenging economy with 50 employees today, roughly split between the two offices.

The core of the business are self-hosted and software-as-a-service applications that help governments, health care organizations and businesses small and large manage timelines and resource allocation for information technology and other types of projects, helping decision-makers find inefficiencies and give decision-makers up-to-the-minute information on progress.

Metier's main product is PPM Central available as a self-hosted package or cloud-based software as a service. It was revamped last fall. PMO Central is a cloud-based system for project management organizations get further visibility of all projects in progress.

One recent accolade the company has garnered is the Project Management Institute Distinguished Project Award to customer Sears Holdings, which automated processes across its 32 business units. Another customer, California Technology Agency, was a 2011 finalist for PM Solutions' PMO of the Year.

Ross Liscum of Century 21 NorthBay Alliance represented Metier in lease negotiations with building owners Bob Barbieri and Peter Van Alyea, who were represented by Eric Drew of Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty.

Recently, the city has enjoyed increased economic activity from "geographically independent businesses," according to Mr. Drew. The expansion of General Dynamics into another 30,000 square feet this year and the arrival of Metier in space previously occupied by Hamilton Partners, a Southern California advertising firm that expanded to Healdsburg but closed.

"We have a long history of attracting and building business that could be anyplace they wanted to be but they decided to be in Healdsburg," he said.

[caption id="attachment_55343" align="alignright" width="318" caption="Metier software helps large and small organizations manage timelines and resource allocation for various types of projects."][/caption]

HEALDSBURG -- Project portfolio management software developer Metier Ltd. has moved its West Coast office to Healdsburg from downtown Santa Rosa as the company prepares to rapidly increase its local workforce to accommodate a recent surge in sales.

Thanks to "fantastic growth" so far this year -- double-digit top-line growth in the first five months of this year over that pace a year ago -- Metier (707-546-9300, www.metier.com) has about a dozen positions available each in its Sonoma County and Washington, D.C.-area offices, according to Sandra Richardson, co-founder and chief marketing officer.

"We want to be able to accommodate in the hundreds of employees in Sonoma County," she said. "We're looking for a substantial amount of space in the next two to three years."

Growing local operations to 125 employees has been the goal since Metier arrived in Sonoma County nearly three years ago. The plan a year from now is to have 100 employees locally. The company currently is looking for one or more buildings to renovate or build to create an open floor plan that blends the work interaction of a creative-services company with the fast-pace work environment of a securities trading firm, according to Ms. Richardson.

After scouting the county from Healdsburg to Petaluma to Sebastopol, Metier signed a three-year lease for the 10,000-square-foot top floor of 405 Healdsburg Ave., located a block north of the city's central plaza. The company last week relocated from about 7,000 square feet of subleased law offices in the 50 Santa Rosa Ave. mid-rise office building to Healdsburg, a gateway city to wine regions of Dry Creek and Alexander valleys.

Healdsburg has "rich cultural offerings" that can help a fast-growing software company attract top talent, according to Chief Executive Officer Douglas Clark.

"Since our expansion in 2009, we've always been committed to inshoring and locating within the U.S.," he said.

Metier started in 1998 and expanded from Arlington, Va., to a small office in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square district in mid-2009. Today, the company has weathered the challenging economy with 50 employees today, roughly split between the two offices.

The core of the business are self-hosted and software-as-a-service applications that help governments, health care organizations and businesses small and large manage timelines and resource allocation for information technology and other types of projects, helping decision-makers find inefficiencies and give decision-makers up-to-the-minute information on progress.

Metier's main product is PPM Central available as a self-hosted package or cloud-based software as a service. It was revamped last fall. PMO Central is a cloud-based system for project management organizations get further visibility of all projects in progress.

One recent accolade the company has garnered is the Project Management Institute Distinguished Project Award to customer Sears Holdings, which automated processes across its 32 business units. Another customer, California Technology Agency, was a 2011 finalist for PM Solutions' PMO of the Year.

Ross Liscum of Century 21 NorthBay Alliance represented Metier in lease negotiations with building owners Bob Barbieri and Peter Van Alyea, who were represented by Eric Drew of Healdsburg Sotheby's International Realty.

Recently, the city has enjoyed increased economic activity from "geographically independent businesses," according to Mr. Drew. The expansion of General Dynamics into another 30,000 square feet this year and the arrival of Metier in space previously occupied by Hamilton Partners, a Southern California advertising firm that expanded to Healdsburg but closed.

"We have a long history of attracting and building business that could be anyplace they wanted to be but they decided to be in Healdsburg," he said.